[PAST EVENT] Looking Like A State, But Not Being One: The Real Governance Problem In Development

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Billions of dollars have been spent on institutional and governance reforms in developing countries. Similar reform agendas have been pursued in many of these countries, informed by governance indicators used to assess how well countries are doing.

Unfortunately many countries have seen limited results from these reforms, even when governance indicators suggest they are progressing. They have new laws, systems and processes that are not implemented, and government bureaux that do not function. In short, they look like states, but are not really functioning like states. Why is this the case? How can this problem be corrected?